An end to bureaucracy and inefficiency
- Restructure the senior management of the council to a fair and affordable level
- Abolish the shared services model with Redditch Borough Council which has cost Bromsgrove taxpayers dearly
- Council officers to be available at Parkside for BDC residents where requested and not just at Redditch Council house
- Abolish zero-hours contracts and introduce a real living wage for council employees
- Aim to freeze council tax within the first budget of a Labour Council
Promoting health and wellbeing
- Ban fast food outlets within 400 metres of schools
- Limit takeaway outlets in large local centres to a maximum of 5% of commercial units
- Ensure developers make a fair financial contribution to expand services (doctor’s surgeries, schools etc…) to serve a growing population, as well as ensure new estates have adequate footpaths and cycle routes
- Work with Worcestershire County Council to expand libraries, community centres and day centres
- Introduce a community shop to both the town and Rubery Centres with a view to expanding the scheme at a later date
Providing access to public transport and active-travel
- Bromsgrove Labour has always wanted a western relief road. If development on Bromsgrove West makes this impossible, we will lobby Worcestershire County Council to come up with an alternative
- Work with our partners to invest in better pathways and cycle routes across the district
- Provide more bus shelters, improve existing shelters and introduce live timetables to key bus stops
- Work with neighbouring authorities, including Birmingham City Council, to reintroduce the 144 bus
Housing for all
- Abolish the cap on social housing and commit to a minimum 60% affordable homes in all new developments, at least half of which to be reserved for social rent
- Introduce a quota of 20% design-for-life style homes in all new developments
- Introduce a system whereby any variation on a planning agreement by a commercial developer is declared publicly, to ensure they meet all planning conditions
- Utilise government grants to reintroduce a social housing stock for the district
- Ban the practice of ‘fleeceholding’ by developers which is a ‘double-tax’ on homeowners
Leisure
- Take Bromsgrove Sports and Leisure Centre into council control
- Introduce free swimming for under-18s
- Provide free instructor-led fitness/sporting activities in local parks
- Work with local sports clubs and bodies to enhance sports facilities across the district to improve physical and mental health as well as social inclusion
- Invest in our recreation grounds, bringing them up to date and making them attractive to people of all ages
- A Labour Council would step in to save The Artrix and re-open the centre as a publicly owned asset and..
- Negotiate a workable agreement with HoW College for car parking on the site
Creating a greener Bromsgrove
- Commit to a carbon neutral council by 2026
- Fir solar panels to the Parkside complex
- Commit to replacing the council’s current fleet with electric vehicles
- Reintroduce air pollution monitoring across the town centre and villages
- Install electric charging points in all council owned car parks
- Build safe and secure cycle storage in the centres as well as outside tower blocks to encourage travel by bike
- Install water fountains in council owned parks and green spaces, high streets and travel hubs
- Expand the community garden scheme and encourage grow-your-own initiatives
- Employ dog wardens to monitor and clamp down on dog foul
- Launch an initiative to help residents meet the cost of compost bins to encourage recycling of organic waste
- Invest in truck-stop parking and remove heavy vehicle parking from residential areas
Supporting our high streets and local businesses
- Introduce ‘pay as you leave’ parking to allow residents and shoppers greater flexibility when visiting our local centres
- Introduce free parking for the first 30 minutes in council owned car parks
- Introduce free disabled parking in council owned car parks
- Launch a shoppers’ bus linking housing estates to the town centre
- Ensure no change of use for industry-based parks
- Encourage green investment into the district
- Expand high-tech manufacturing in industrial parks